THE CLANS OF THE LONG ISLAND. 63 



Morisons of Dersay (or Darcie) in Fife, the Morisons of 

 Bogney, and the Morisons of Prestongrange, are three 

 Moors' heads, an obvious pun on the word Morison, 

 although tradition supplies a version of its own. Whether 

 or not these Morisons are descended from the Lewis 

 family it is difficult to say, but tradition seems to support 

 the suggestion. It is worthy of remark that a son of the 

 laird of Darcie (Learmont) went to Lewis, at the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century, to negotiate for the release of 

 the Fife adventurers who were held as hostages. It is 

 possible that this circumstance may form a link between 

 the Morisons of Darcie and the Morisons of Lewis. The 

 Lewis Morisons are known to have formed colonies in the 

 North of Scotland, no less than sixty families of them 

 having, according to tradition, been transported to 

 Durness and Old Shores by one of their chiefs who 

 married a daughter of the Bishop of Caithness, receiving 

 as her dowry the lands in question. 



The Macaulays of Uig were a family of Norse extrac- 

 tion, and had no connexion with the Macaulays of 

 Ardencaple, Dumbartonshire ; but it is very probable 

 that the Loch Broom Macaulays and their namesakes 

 in Lewis were descended from a common progenitor. 

 The name Macaulay is the equivalent of the Norse 

 Olafsson. It is impossible to identify the progenitor of 

 the clan. Sir George Trevelyan tells us that the tradition 

 in Lord Macaulay's family was that they were descended 

 from " Olaus Magnus, King of Norway." Captain Thomas 

 tried to find an ancestor for them in the person of Olvir 

 Rosta, who lived in the twelfth century. It is curious to 

 find the tradition of descent from a Norse King applying 

 alike to the Macleods, the Morisons, and the Macaulays 

 of Lewis. It suggests a common origin, and that the 

 Macaulays, like the Morisons, may have been a sept of 

 the Macleods ; but with that suggestion we must rest 

 content, for there are no positive facts to go upon. 



The feuds between the Macaulays and the Morisons 

 bulk largely in Lewis tradition. A great battle which 



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